It’s a busy time of the year, I’ve fallen behind a bit on posting, but wanted to get this ramped back up. So far we’ve talked QB and RB. Staying focused on the O – let’s look at one spot on the team that hopefully will make some big strides this season – the O-line. Last year’s O-line had a rough go of it to say the least, first off the two experienced book-ends of the line, John Schmaing and Trevor Poole wind up missing the whole season and the interior line consisted of the Hines brothers and Ben Weyer. The Hines brothers had major issues with inconsistency, Weyer had some nagging knee injuries but developed well over the season. In place of Schmaing and Poole after trying out many different mix and match scenarios the coaches settled on converted guard Devon Dietrich and after injury to converted TE Jackson Thiebes they locked in with true freshman David Reese. So the good news? As it seems many of the guys in the mix to start had significant playing time last year. More good news, Chad Germer is back. However this is a different offense with different expectations. Here’s how I see it:
Starting O-line
T: John Schmaing
T: David Reese
G: Max Kelly
G: Devon Dietrich
C: Ben Weyer
Backup O-line
T: Jackson Thiebes
T: Jared Clark
G: McCauley Todd
G: Clint LaRowe
C: Robert Luke
Depth
Cooper Sprunk, Cameron Rokich, Roscoe Alley, Angel Villanueva, Jackson McCullough, Dallas Hart, Cody Meyer
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The O-line, in my opinion, is still maybe subject to change. I see a few things that could still jumble this line up:
1. McCauley Todd vs Max Kelly. Kelly, a converted tackle, grabbed the job from Todd halfway through spring ball and didn’t give it up. Todd has a little bit more in-game experience and is a natural fit at guard. It’ll be interesting to see how this spills over into fall camp. I assume Kelly will open with the job, but if Todd has improved… it could get interesting.
2. Jackson Thiebes vs David Reese. Thiebes did the same thing as Kelly, he grabbed the starting job over Reese halfway through spring ball – but he didn’t fare the best. I think Reese was dealing with some injury but I’m not 100% sure on that. I’ve heard great talk about both, Thiebes has attended some specialty camps while many are saying Reese could develop into one of the greats. Thiebes may get the first shot at it, but I honestly think Reese is the guy here that’ll prevail.
3. If one of the freshman comes in and really blows things up. I know many on this board are drooling over Villanueva especially. I honestly hope we can redshirt all 4 of our new linemen, if possible. However there’s the chance that one of these guys, who Stitt and Germer recruited for this offense, could show much more promise than the returning group. I would think it’s highly doubtful – but we’ll have to just see.
While this O-line may come to the table with experience, it’s got an issue with consistency and some issues with injury. Schmaing once again missed a lot of time with injuries, the interior line was jumbled up a bunch as well. What this group has to dramatically improve upon not only from last year but from spring ball is being able to keep Gustafson safe enough to let plays develop and get the ball away without getting beat up too bad. While he’s one of the best in the nation Tyrone Holmes made most of our O-line look pretty bad on many plays. I have faith that the off-season and more work with Germer will only help this group – however if they don’t dramatically improve there could be a lot more headaches ahead for this offense – which relies especially on good pass protection. The O-line will not have help this year from a TE or FB cleaning up missed blocks or helping with blitzes.
Ben Weyer is presumably one of the very key pieces to this O-line. He’s one of the most experienced players of the group, has been groomed to grab the center position for years, and has taken a vocal leadership role in some cases that I’ve seen. For Ben, continually improving and keeping the OL on the same page is vital. I know egriz is in loooove with Robert Luke – and he’ll have his time to shine, but he didn’t work out well at guard this spring and I think still needs to keep improving to be our starting center – and that opportunity will arrive soon, but not this season.
Dietrich and Kelly (or Todd) are good compliments to the O-line, Dietrich has a whole season under his belt as a starter which I like. Our best options for guard aren’t flashy or dominant players. I’m anxious to see how they look this fall camp.
Schmaing needs to return to his 2013 self, that’s huge, and Reese (or Thiebes) need to be better than they were in the fall of 2014 and this spring.
I see great potential here but I’m also worried – we’re relying a lot upon mostly the same guys from last year – some in different roles, some promoted from backup or ST duty, and one coming back from a year off. I believe we’ll see improvement over 2014 – how much Germer can get this group into being a great O-line we’ve yet to see, if he can get these guys to become a dominant group at some point this season Stitt had better give him a huge bonus!
Starting O-line
T: John Schmaing
T: David Reese
G: Max Kelly
G: Devon Dietrich
C: Ben Weyer
Backup O-line
T: Jackson Thiebes
T: Jared Clark
G: McCauley Todd
G: Clint LaRowe
C: Robert Luke
Depth
Cooper Sprunk, Cameron Rokich, Roscoe Alley, Angel Villanueva, Jackson McCullough, Dallas Hart, Cody Meyer
-------------
The O-line, in my opinion, is still maybe subject to change. I see a few things that could still jumble this line up:
1. McCauley Todd vs Max Kelly. Kelly, a converted tackle, grabbed the job from Todd halfway through spring ball and didn’t give it up. Todd has a little bit more in-game experience and is a natural fit at guard. It’ll be interesting to see how this spills over into fall camp. I assume Kelly will open with the job, but if Todd has improved… it could get interesting.
2. Jackson Thiebes vs David Reese. Thiebes did the same thing as Kelly, he grabbed the starting job over Reese halfway through spring ball – but he didn’t fare the best. I think Reese was dealing with some injury but I’m not 100% sure on that. I’ve heard great talk about both, Thiebes has attended some specialty camps while many are saying Reese could develop into one of the greats. Thiebes may get the first shot at it, but I honestly think Reese is the guy here that’ll prevail.
3. If one of the freshman comes in and really blows things up. I know many on this board are drooling over Villanueva especially. I honestly hope we can redshirt all 4 of our new linemen, if possible. However there’s the chance that one of these guys, who Stitt and Germer recruited for this offense, could show much more promise than the returning group. I would think it’s highly doubtful – but we’ll have to just see.
While this O-line may come to the table with experience, it’s got an issue with consistency and some issues with injury. Schmaing once again missed a lot of time with injuries, the interior line was jumbled up a bunch as well. What this group has to dramatically improve upon not only from last year but from spring ball is being able to keep Gustafson safe enough to let plays develop and get the ball away without getting beat up too bad. While he’s one of the best in the nation Tyrone Holmes made most of our O-line look pretty bad on many plays. I have faith that the off-season and more work with Germer will only help this group – however if they don’t dramatically improve there could be a lot more headaches ahead for this offense – which relies especially on good pass protection. The O-line will not have help this year from a TE or FB cleaning up missed blocks or helping with blitzes.
Ben Weyer is presumably one of the very key pieces to this O-line. He’s one of the most experienced players of the group, has been groomed to grab the center position for years, and has taken a vocal leadership role in some cases that I’ve seen. For Ben, continually improving and keeping the OL on the same page is vital. I know egriz is in loooove with Robert Luke – and he’ll have his time to shine, but he didn’t work out well at guard this spring and I think still needs to keep improving to be our starting center – and that opportunity will arrive soon, but not this season.
Dietrich and Kelly (or Todd) are good compliments to the O-line, Dietrich has a whole season under his belt as a starter which I like. Our best options for guard aren’t flashy or dominant players. I’m anxious to see how they look this fall camp.
Schmaing needs to return to his 2013 self, that’s huge, and Reese (or Thiebes) need to be better than they were in the fall of 2014 and this spring.
I see great potential here but I’m also worried – we’re relying a lot upon mostly the same guys from last year – some in different roles, some promoted from backup or ST duty, and one coming back from a year off. I believe we’ll see improvement over 2014 – how much Germer can get this group into being a great O-line we’ve yet to see, if he can get these guys to become a dominant group at some point this season Stitt had better give him a huge bonus!